RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Brazil's state-run development
bank will set up an international donations fund for the
preservation of the Amazon, its chief said on Wednesday, as the
country fends off criticism for not doing enough to preserve
its rain forest.

Luciano Coutinho, president of the National Economic and
Social Development Bank (BNDES), told reporters the first
contribution was already being negotiated with the Norwegian
government and could be up to $200 million.

"This fund is being structured because Brazil wants to
receive hefty donations," he said, adding the Norwegian
contribution could be made this year and be repeated over a
total of five years.

The BNDES, which has the Environment Ministry's mandate to
manage the fund, already has credit lines to help companies
that respect the Kyoto protocol on greenhouse gas emissions and
protect the environment.

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Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has dismissed
foreign concern over Amazon preservation on several occasions
in the past few days after the resignation of Environment
Minister Marina Silva.

He said countries that had already chopped down their
forests and were among the worst polluters should not be giving
Brazil environmental advice or talking about the Amazon as if
it belonged to the world.

Environmental groups expressed grave concern this month
when Silva, who was seen as a guardian of the Amazon, stepped
down citing inability to carry out her agenda.

She was replaced by Carlos Minc, a founder of the Green
Party in Brazil, who is nevertheless viewed with suspicion by
some conservationists because he presided over a speeding up of
environmental licenses in his most recent job as Rio de
Janeiro's state environment chief.

Silva had been increasingly isolated in her opposition to
big infrastructure projects such as planned hydroelectric
plants in the Amazon and had repeatedly clashed with big
agricultural interests blamed for destroying the forest.

Lula says he is against unfettered development but that the
Amazon should not be turned into an off-limits reserve either.

(Reporting by Rodrigo Gaier; writing by Andrei Khalip;
editing by Stuart Grudgings and John O'Callaghan)